Guelph quest: Scientology sets up temporary shop in Canadian town and faces stiff opposition - 2017-10-08

Scientology has rented offices in the city of Guelph, Ontario and announced plans to open a Continental Liaison Office (CLO) there. "The Royal City" of Guelph holds about 120,000 residents and this would be the first Scientology presence there. Residents plan to protest against the site, and they worry about how this expansion will affect their community. Rumors abound that Scientologists have been seen distributing literature and have started recruiting. While it's always worrisome when Scientology comes to town, this is likely a temporary facility and not one designed for recruitment efforts.

Guelph Stands Against Scientology is a group of residents alarmed by Scientology's presence in their community. They are holding a protest on October 28th from 2:00-4:00 PM at the CLO building, 40 Baker Street. Estimating turnout is difficult, but organizers hope to attract 200-300 protesters. Reports in their Facebook group of Scientology recruiters on the streets of Guelph appear to be a case of mistaken identity. They were Jehovah's Witnesses. Unlike most Scientology facilities it would be very unusual for this group to recruit or distribute literature. A CLO is not that kind of Scientology org.

A Continental Liaison Office, or CLO, is a management org. Its purpose is to serve as a middleman for communications between international management and local orgs in one of Scientology's continents, and despite the geography Canada counts as a continent. The staff are all Sea Org members, having signed the billion-year commitment to Scientology and a CLO is known as a "Sea Org Org." The new CLO outside Copenhagen bears the laurel and star symbol of the Sea Org. There is no Scientology bookstore inside, there is no Testing Center or video booths, auditing rooms, course rooms, or any of the required parts of an org that serves public Scientologists or recruits. It is one of a series of Ideal CLOs that have been opened with great fanfare in recent years.